The Route to Boston

On Saturday March 24 I had the opportunity to join some of my Team Eye and Ear teammates on an organized run along a good portion of the Boston Marathon route. We met at Fitcorp at One Beacon street, where we got on school buses for a ride out to Framingham. There were quite a few Boston Marathoners-to-be on the bus, including former New England Patriot Tedy Bruschi and his wife. The bus ride seemed extraordinarily long, given that we all knew we had to run back. Basically, the bus dropped us off in a parking lot in Framingham, somebody pointed in the direction of downtown Boston, and said–it’s that way, 21 miles.

The cool thing about the long run was that we had lots of company. Given that we were three weeks out from the race itself, many runners were looking to get in their last long run on the course. For a newbie like myself, it was a chance to get familiar, literally, with the ups and downs of the course. There were numerous runners tackling the course in both directions.

The run was also well supported–the various charity teams had water stations set up along the route, as did some of the shoe manufacturers (New Balance, Saucony, for example). I was impressed with not only how friendly everybody was, but how encouraging they were–people were actually cheering us on as we went! And every charity runner has a story–often of a close friend or family member for whom they are tackling the marathon and in who’s honor they are raising money for a good cause.

In Newton, where the runners were thick practicing on the hills (including the famous Heartbreak Hill), police officers were on duty at the intersections to help avoid runner/vehicle collisions. At the bottom of Heartbreak, I watched three wild turkeys cross Commonwealth Ave–I don’t know which charity team they were running for–probably the Eat More Pork Foundation.

I counted my own run as successful, given that I arrived back at One Beacon with my legs still propelling me forward. Running up Beacon Hill at the end was a “special treat”. It was good training since it came about the same point in the run that Heartbreak will be in the Marathon itself.